Boland's Yankees Insider: Vazquez a much better pitcher than in 2004

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.

Dave Eiland buys that Javier Vazquez is a different pitcher from the first time around as a Yankee.

That the righthander is more refined, has a better repertoire, is more mature.

All that.

But the Yankees' pitching coach draws the line at a common theory that Vazquez will do better this time because he's in the supposedly less pressurized No. 4 spot in the rotation as opposed to the more prominent position he occupied in 2004.

"When you're here and you're pitching here in New York in this division, I don't care if you're the last guy coming out of the bullpen, you're expected to perform," Eiland said Wednesday. "And you know what? After it's once or twice through the rotation, those numbers don't mean anything. Because of off days and rainouts, you're going to have a so-called 1 vs. a 4 or 5 vs. a 3. It doesn't always work out 1 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2. It doesn't always work out that way."

Vazquez, 33, who makes his 2010 debut Friday night against the Rays, doesn't subscribe to the "less pressure" speculation either.

"Every time you're on the mound, there's the same responsibility," said Vazquez, who was fourth in the National League Cy Young voting last year, when he was 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA and 238 strikeouts in 2191/3 innings. "The responsibility of trying to win and pitch a good game and just giving your team a chance to win. Every time you're out there, it doesn't matter if you're the first guy out there or the fifth guy out there, you have the same responsibility."

Everyone knows Vazquez didn't always live up to that in 2004, though overall, it wasn't as bad as some remember. He was 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA; after a good first half in which he made the All-Star team, Vazquez, battling shoulder fatigue that he still won't use as an alibi, faded in the second half. It culminated with an awful relief appearance in Game 7 of the ALCS in which he allowed Johnny Damon's grand slam and two-run homer, turning a 2-0 game into an 8-1 rout.

After catching Vazquez's first bullpen session of spring training, Jorge Posada said the biggest difference from the 2004 Vazquez is his secondary pitches. "I think he's, right now, at the peak of his career," he said, noting a biting curve Vazquez displayed from the onset of camp.

Eiland wasn't the pitching coach in 2004 but has watched plenty of video. "He has much better command, much, much better command of his secondary pitches than he used to have," Eiland said. "Plus he's got good command of his fastball. You put all that together and you've got a pretty good pitcher on your hands."

Vazquez already has grown tired of talking about 2004 - "I talked about it a lot when I got traded and in spring training . . . and I just want to concentrate on the present," he said Wednesday - but acknowledges being a more polished product than he was six years ago.

"I think, I guess I've learned how to pitch a little bit more," he said. "Obviously, I should. I have six more years [experience], but I feel good, I feel like I'm throwing a couple more pitches than I did before, so that's helped me a little bit more, too."

Although some may be slow to forgive and forget Vazquez's ALCS Game 7 outing, the Yankees see one of baseball's most durable pitchers of the last decade. Vazquez has surpassed 200 innings in nine of the last 10 years; 2004 was his only year under that threshold, and he threw 198. Eiland said such durability comes from Vazquez's physical condition and "relatively clean delivery that he repeats; there's not a lot of excess moving parts."

Joe Girardi hasn't discussed 2004 with Vazquez and doesn't plan to do so. The pitcher's mental makeup is just fine.

Said Girardi: "I don't think you have a year like he had last year and the consistency of 200 innings every year and making starts if you don't have a plan and know what you need physically and mentally and how you need to attack hitters."